Macros for Beginners: If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed, Heres the Easy Way to Eat for Fat Loss + Muscle

0:10 Welcome back to the body recomposition revolution. This is Robin. If you are like every other woman or person in the world right now who is tuned into social media, the Internet, modern civilization as it is, you have been hearing all about macros. And if you are like me, when I first heard of macros, I was like what the heck are they and why are the people who are talking about them incessantly seeing such insane progress? This is confusing, therefore overwhelming. Therefore, I want nothing to do with it.

0:44 But I also want to look like they look. This is where we all start. Today I am going to totally breakdown in a very quick simplified episode what macros are and why we are counting them. I'm also going to break down the mental barriers you have surrounding it being too arduous to understand, therefore you're overwhelmed or uninterested in general. So I have bad news and good news. Bad news if you actually want to drop fat and reshape your body and not just look skinny fat for a few months until you regain it.

1:18 The bad news is you have to count macros for at least a little while, OK? And the good news? The good news is that the skills you will gain from learning how to count macros are going to last you a lifetime because knowledge is invaluable and counting macros is just learning what you're putting in your body. It's super simple, especially with technology, apps, all of that. Let's start with the definition of macros. O macros is a term. It's a shortened version of the word macro nutrients. And macro nutrients are the big three nutrients that make U every single bite of food that you put into your mouth.

1:53 Now, those big three macro nutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Every single bite of food you put into your mouth has some combination of those 3 macro nutrients. So some foods are really high in protein and really low in carbs. Some foods, if you have a problem with keeping body fat off the ones you're eating are probably really high in carbohydrates and fats and really low in protein. But no matter what you are eating, whatever it is, cheese, candy, grapes, every single bit of food that you have has a balance of those 3 macro nutrients, protein, carbs, fats.

2:30 Now, in my brain, I kind of associate protein as the macronutrient that kind of looks like how your body looks when you eat a lot of it. So think about protein. And if you don't know anything about protein, listen to me ramble about protein. Chicken, right? Egg whites, Turkey, we have whey protein. When you eat things like that beef, your body feels kind of tight. It doesn't feel bloated. You feel strong. That's how I associate the macronutrient protein. The effect it's giving my body is the more protein I eat, the more my body is going to emulate what that macronutrient conjures up in my brain when I think about it.

3:08 So let's start with protein. I remember there are three macronutrients, protein, carbs, and fats. Now people, there's our alcohol to whatever. We won't get into that. There's three main macronutrients, proteins, carbs, and fats. We are starting with protein. OK, let's think of your body as a house. I think I've used this metaphor before, analogy. Let's think of your body as a house. Protein is the building blocks that is going to make up your house. Protein is the building blocks it's going to make up your house.

3:37 If you just built a house full of drywall and insulation, it would be flimsy. It would be weak. It wouldn't look right. It would fall apart. It would be skinny fat. Think about the three little piggies. One did straw, one did sticks. And when did bricks? You have to be the smart little piggy and build your house out of bricks, because that brick foundation is going to be what shapes your house. It's going to be what gives you a butt. It's going to be what makes you look toned. It's going to be what keeps the fat off, keeps your hormones in balance, keeps your hair looking good.

4:12 And I will say this, whenever I have a new client, 99.999% of the time they are not eating enough protein. This is so common. Our entire society has done women especially such a disservice in thinking that protein meats are going to make us big and bulky. When I have women with me in my own personal life, we go out to eat, they order a salad. It takes everything in me not to say where's the protein? Where's the protein? You're just eating vegetables, but where's the protein? Yes, that might be low in calories, but is our goal to be skinny fat and have a horrible metabolism that stops us from being able to eat more than 900 calories every day without gaining a pound?

4:55 OK, that's not your goal. Then eat protein. So like I said, if you are in a caloric deficit, which means you are eating less calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight, but you're not eating enough protein, your body is not just going to lose fat. 40% of that weight is going to come from your lean muscle, which is going to damage your metabolism, which is going to make you look skinny fat. I'm going to do a whole episode on the GLP One epidemic and what you can just bet your bottom dollar you'll start seeing in a year because of this epidemic.

5:32 So when I have a client who might be in a GL P1, I've had a couple of them, I'm so glad they come to me because that means they know that weight loss is part of the puzzle and they hire me to help them figure out the remaining pieces of that puzzle because they don't. Many people don't have an understanding of macro nutrients. So great. They come to me because together we will work towards developing a deep understanding of how important it is to eat enough protein to eat enough calories to fuel the machine.

6:05 OK, so protein. Protein is the building block of your body. It is literally the macro nutrient that allows you to burn fat and build lean muscle at the same time. So when you think of your ideal body and you can kind of see her abs or she has some shoulder definition and a nice lifted heinie, that's not from starving herself I promise you. Because if she did she wouldn't have any of those things. She would just look smaller version of the out of shape body she may have had previously. Now what I have found with people is when I say those trademark lines you hear on repeat, which are something like protein builds muscle, it helps you drop fat.

6:46 And in reality, people are like, what does that even mean? Protein is genuinely more say, satiating than any of the other macro nutrients. So if you are eating enough, close to enough protein as what your body actually needs, you're going to feel so much more full and satisfied throughout the day. You're not going to have those constant urges to snack because you feel full. Around four hours ago, I had a huge bowl of boneless wings from some wing place over here. I have the sauce on the side and they're really lightly battered.

7:23 That was a lot of protein. That was a lot of protein. That was hours ago. I feel like I'm going to throw up still because it was so much food. Now, if I ate that many calories in chips, I can tell you right now I would be hungry right now. So here's a good rule of thumb. Every single time you eat, maybe four or five times a day, you should be aiming for about 3035 grams of protein, depending on your goals. But if you just shot for even 25 to 35 grams of protein per meal, you are going to be in good shape.

7:57 You are going to be full, I promise. And I am not oblivious to how protein takes a lot of preparation. You have to have your meat cooked ahead of time. You have to be very aware of how much protein you're eating and how you're going to integrate it into your meals. Totally get that. And that's why snacking is kind of a thing where you have to resort to it if you're not prepared for your day, and that's fine. That's human. That's going to happen from time to time, actually probably every day. That's where you need to have snacks on hand that are protein based, that are grab and go, that are easily accessible because that's real life.

8:35 Sometimes we are hungry and we just need to have a little sustenance or we don't have time to sit down and eat a meal or even heat up one of the meals we pre made. I've been in that situation twice this week. In that case, I always have these grab and grow, grab and go protein snacks on hand #1 beef jerky or Turkey jerky, some kind of dehydrated meat. Another super easy little snack I've had on hand and have been utilizing so much the last few months because of my kids. They love these too. It's just some string cheese sticks.

9:10 They're individually wrapped string cheese sticks. I think I get them at Costco. I mean, who are we kidding? I get everything at Costco. They are called cheese heads and I believe they are 6 or 7 grams of protein in each little stick. Sometimes I am in such a rush that I just grab a couple of those and a rice cake on the way out the door and I'm like, boom, done A tiny little meal to hold me over until I can sit down and actually eat one. That's not going to pop my blood sugar out of control when it's not going to increase my cravings right away.

9:39 Something that is going to tide me over, keep my blood sugar stable, keep my muscles building and growing, and keep my metabolism functioning at an optimal level. Now I want to repeat this. I want to say it clearly and concisely so everybody can hear. If you are on a GLP one, any type skinny shot tres, I don't there's the list goes on. So if you are on any sort of substance that is altering your hunger cues, listen to me closely. You cannot eat all you want. You can get as small as you want. What you are ultimately doing is damaging your metabolism to the point of no return.

10:24 So when you do start eating again, because that hunger cue will continue to emerge and you'll have to keep upping your dose. And then ultimately it'll come to a point where the negative side effects of that, whatever you're taking GLP one come to a head and you, I just can't do it anymore. And you start weaning yourself off. Your hunger cues are going to attack and your metabolism is going to be so damaged that the pounds are going to stack on immediately. I've seen it happen. And I don't, I don't want to say that in a callous way or in a way that's coming off as insensitive.

10:59 I'm saying in a way, I'm saying it out of love for anybody and everybody who has the goal of health in mind. And they are going about it in a way that that is good for them. And I will say this too, I'm a fan of GLP ones for people who have a substantial amount of body fat to lose. Substantial, OK, but I am only a fan of using a GOP one if you are in that scenario and if you have sought out support to help give you the knowledge in how to eat right, how to eat for the body you want, not just not eat.

11:31 So I will say this. If you are on a GLP one and you have lost a ton of weight or you are losing a ton of weight and you are excited, I'm excited for you. I'm excited for you. But if you're not eating enough protein, you are going to be left with a body that maybe you won't be super happy about. But in your head maybe you're like, oh, well, yeah, I'm, I'm thin now. Great. But I am very hesitant and nervous for those people who will come to find in the future that their bodies do not stay that way.

12:04 They do not stay that way unless you are eating enough protein, because unless you are eating enough protein to give your muscles what they need to at least maintain, right, We want them to at least stay there. So you're going to have to be eating at least a gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. If that ideal body weight is 140 lbs, you have to be eating at least 140 lbs of protein if you're a woman just to maintain the muscle. If you're eating under that and you're still working out, I promise you, you're losing muscle right now.

12:40 I promise you're losing muscle. It's just science. It's not me. Go to God and talk to him about it because that's the way he made your body work. I've really had people argue with, argue with me about this and how I, I didn't make you like this. This is just the way your body works. You have to eat enough protein in order to at least maintain the muscle that you've been working so hard in the gym for. And if you don't eat enough protein to maintain the muscle that you've been working so hard for, or at least maintain the muscle that you have at this current point, and you're in a GOP1 in a steep deficit, not eating enough, you're going to have a world of problems on your hand within six months.

13:18 The problem being your metabolism is shot. Your body doesn't look the way you wanted it to look. You're gaining weight faster than you can snap your fingers, and you have no idea what to do because it's happening so quickly. I don't want that for anybody. So when I have a client who is on a GLP one and they have a significant amount of weight to lose, I am so happy they're taking their health into their hands. It's an empowering thing for them and it's a great tool. It's a fantastic tool. So excited for them.

13:48 And as the scale goes down and I see the look on their face, they are so accomplished. But what I am most proud of is when I see the effort they put into, even though their appetite is decreased, they are still putting so much effort into loading up their plate with protein. And it's a foreign concept to most of them, but they are still learning and doing and every single day developing new skills and implementing new habits to build a solid foundation for when the time does come where they will have to get off this medication.

14:21 OK, rant over and I'm going to do a whole episode on this in the future because I have seen women use GOP ones responsibly and I have seen 10 times more women use GOP ones irresponsibly and I have a lot to say about it. I've done a lot of research on it and it will just be a full blown episode, so stay tuned for that. All right, to wrap up protein, protein is the building blocks you need to build your body. Every part of your body, your hormones, your muscles, your nails, your skin, your hair. It is the most important macronutrient of the three in terms of the way your body looks in a good way.

15:01 You want to eat enough protein so that your body looks lean, toned especially, so it can stay that way. And some of the common best ways to get enough protein. A few of the snacks I listed before was any of those dehydrated meat sticks. Great. You know, jerky, little individually wrapped jerky packs, whatever they are protein bars. I love David bars. They're amazing. Check those out. Greek yogurt, that is my go to. I could eat it all day. I'm not kidding. I could eat Greek yogurt all day, Faye. And then some of my favorite meat sources of protein.

15:35 Obviously chicken, Turkey I'm not a fan of, but I'll eat it. You have your egg whites, eggs, protein powder. Then you have more of the fattier proteins like your beef. You know you have your steak burgers. I'll stop rambling about protein. Google protein sources if you want or check out my Instagram. I have a lot of easy quick protein recipes, quick lists of how you can get enough protein. My Instagram is RAC fitness under dash. So just RAC Fitness under dash. OK, let's get into carbs. Carbs get such a bad rap, but they are fuel.

16:15 They are fuel. You need carbs. And it's so funny because I might put a client's macros at maybe 140 grams of protein. And if I give them maybe 120 grams of carbs, they are like, no, that's too much. Oh my gosh. And I'm like, no, because if you're pairing it with the protein, that's the balancing act your body needs to perform optimally and with fat. But we'll get into that last. Let's breakdown what happens when you eat carbs. So when you eat carbs, whether it's fruit, rice, bread, candy, oats, your body breaks those carbohydrates down into what's called glucose, which is basically just sugar that goes into your bloodstream and that makes your blood sugar rise.

16:56 Now, as soon as your blood sugar rises, your pancreas let's go of what's called insulin, OK? Insulin's job is to take that glucose and put it into your muscle or your liver. Now that glucose has turned into what's called glycogen, and you can just think of glycogen as your body's battery pack. When you lift weights, when you walk, even when you're putting forth a lot of mental energy, your body is going to tap into that glycogen battery pack for energy. So carbs are not evil. They're you need them.

17:33 Your body actually needs them. I learned this the really hard way when I tried to do keto for a few days and I felt like I was near death. I looked skinny, but that's only because I didn't have a lot of glycogen in my body because glycogen turns into glucose, as I said, and glucose also stores water within the molecules of it. So when you don't have a lot of glucose stored or any for that matter, you are losing a lot of water retention. Your body kind of turns into a Raisin and looks really lean and tone and it's awesome and you think you lost real weight, but in actuality, you just, you just got rid of all the water that you were storing and soon it will come back tenfold.

18:14 And I like to use this little phrase and because it's kind of catchy. Don't eat naked carbs. What that means is don't eat carbs alone. Don't eat carbs by themselves. Always pair it with a little protein. A lot of times I will take a banana and I'll blend it up with cottage cheese and PB Fit or protein powder into this delicious little pudding. I don't often eat just a banana by itself unless it's right before my workout and I know I'll need a little quick source of energy. Because when you eat carbohydrates by themself, your insulin gets spiked.

18:49 Now some carbohydrates really spike your insulin, like cake and other carbohydrates. Just give it a little bit of a spike, like sweet potatoes. Either way, you're going to have your blood sugar spike when you eat carbs by itself, and that just means that you're going to experience hunger really quickly, robably. Within an hour, all those cravings for sugar are going to come, you're going to have really low energy, you're going to be Moody, and you're going to start storing fat. But when you pair carbs with protein, you slow down your digestion, remember, because protein is very satiating.

19:21 So protein kind of acts like a, a buffer. It keeps your blood sugar really stable. It gives insulin some time to do its job more efficiently and then helps your body actually use those carbs to refuel the muscle instead of storing them as fat. So I'm going to repeat that part. When you pair protein with your carb, it's going to help your body use those carbs to refuel muscle instead of storing it with fat. One here. Ridiculous I am when I have extra birthday cake because we always get these massive Costco cakes.

19:50 We exist off Costco. I will take the excess birthday cake, put it into my KitchenAid and then I will dump a bunch of protein powder into it, mix it all up and put it in little balls and just call them cake balls. But in reality they're cake balls with protein because I don't want to eat a naked carb. I'd rather Mao on a cake ball with 10 grams of protein in it. It's a really great trick. I have so many weird non naked carb eating tricks. I will make a video about this. So in a nutshell, so far we've covered protein and carbs.

20:22 Protein repairs and builds the muscle. So you're building your body, you're building your booty, you're making it look lifted. And then carbs refill muscle glycogen and give you energy to actually train harder. So you need carbs to lift heavy enough to have a real impact on your muscle growth. When you pair them together, they create this miraculous muscle building, fat burning atmosphere that is so perfect for body recomposition. Let's get into the third and final macronutrient and that is fat, the hormone helper.

20:58 I've learned this first hand the last few years as well. Fat gets a bad rap just like carbs because it is more calorically dense. So when you think about a gram of carbs, that is 4 calories per gram of carbs, protein, 4 calories per gram of carbs, fat, 9 calories per gram of fat. So fats are more calorically dense, which kind of toes the line. When you're in a caloric deficit, you're not going to be eating eating as much food and volume with fats, but you're also going to get a lot of really healthy things that are just more calorically dense.

21:32 So you got to play it safe. Our ratios with fat are drastically lower than carbs, but fat is so crucial. They're your hormone. They're your hormone backbone, literally what your body uses to produce estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. So if you're not eating enough fat, your hormones cannot function without that. That is also incredibly satisfying. Like, who doesn't want to eat a spoonful of peanut butter or a nicely sliced avocado on a whole egg yolk and all a fatty steak? Here's a weird story.

22:09 When I was a kid and my parents would make steak for dinner, I would just chew the fat off my steak and love every moment of it. And I would turn to my sister and say, can I have your fat?

22:22 I am just a fat lover. I could eat it all day. And if I did, I would be, I would be the way of that macro as well. Because you do have to tread lightly. As I said, it is very calorically dense, but necessary for hormone production and everything good. So as I said, protein, that's your builder, carbs, that's your energy source. Fat is your regulator. It keeps everything running smoothly inside your body behind the scenes, from your mood to your focus to your menstrual cycle to your metabolism. It's totally necessary.

22:56 And I have gone low fat before, like really low fat. You. I could feel it. I had dry skin. I wasn't recovering. I just felt irritable. I was kind of like a flaky rude. I don't, I don't know. That basically happens because fat is literally the material your body uses to build hormones. It uses it to build hormones and keep them balanced. So when I wasn't eating enough fat, especially because I was over 35, I started to see those hormone related issues, which you might too if you're not eating enough fat, which is your fatigue, you have dry skin.

23:38 My memory, Oh my gosh, non existent. My recovery from working out, non existent. Truly. So in terms of body recomposition, fat doesn't necessarily fuel your workouts and it doesn't help you build muscle, but it it creates the environment for that to happen because without it, neither of those things will be happening. If your fats are too low for too long, your hormones start doing things like whispering to your body. Slow down metabolism, hold on to the fat to protect her energy, which is the exact opposite of what we want when we are shooting for body recomposition.

24:16 But then you have to remember that too much fat can backfire too, because unlike carbs and protein, which are 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram. So much more calorically dense. And when you overshoot your calories, like I always say, the only way you can drop fat is by being in a caloric deficits. You have to be eating less calories than your body needs to just sustain and maintain. So when you pump up that fat, it's really easy how fast you can go over your caloric intake without even realizing it.

24:49 And the best thing happens when you pair all three fat, protein and carbs together for your perfect meal, which is it slows digestion, which keeps you full stronger. It stabilizes your blood sugar so your body's not holding on to that fat. It helps your body absorb the nutrients that you are taking in. And best of all, for women above 35, it supports your hormone production and your recovery, which ultimately is what leads to you being able to build muscle and drop fat. So remember, if you've ever counted calories before, macros is basically the same thing.

25:25 You're just knowing what those calories are comprised of, that's all. And thank God for apps because in a previous episode I mentioned that I used to have to use a little notepad with pre written down meals. I commonly ate in the macros that I would type in my my desktop computer when I had a moment when somebody else wasn't on the House phone. So thank goodness for apps because you guys can just scan them and put them in. I've been using macros first for years. A lot of my clients use macros first, or they use my personal app that they have their workouts tracked on, or they use My Fitness Pal with macros.

26:00 The way that you're going to drop fat and gain muscle is you have to know which percentage you need of each macro nutrient. You have to know maybe 39% of your plate should be protein, 34% should be carbs and the rest fat. You have to understand what percentage of your plate should be what in accordance with your goals. And that is the overwhelming part. That is where most people forget it. They don't want to move forward. They'd rather just do the whole eat 1000 calories a day, drop weight fast, get fat fatter, that whole thing.

26:34 You can go online and find any of your any macro counting tool and that will give you a good starting point. You can come to me, I do people's macros for $39.00. It's a few quizzes I send you. We go back and forth a few times. At the end you get this really cute two page PDF that's personalized to you. It gives you a blueprint of your day nutritionally. It tells you exactly what to eat, when to eat, how much protein you'll be eating, fat, carbs, what app to use, break it down for you. I simplify by it, and what I really enjoy about the quizzes is that some women can have a much higher carb intake during the day and still drop fat, actually drop fat more effectively than other women who are pretty carb sensitive.

27:18 So it's important to understand your carb sensitivity going into a process like this as well so that you can get the most bang for your buck so that you're not going to be wasting a bunch of time trying to finagle your numbers. If you do want help formulating your macros, you can e-mail me at [email protected]. That is RAC [email protected]. MN for Minnesota because that is where I am located, or you can find me on Instagram. That's RAC Fitness under Dash. I also have a Facebook page, The Body Recomposition Revolution, and I've had so much fun with the ladies who have reached out to me to get their macros done.

27:58 It is just rewarding to help these women understand more cardio is doing you more harm than good. Fueling the right way is going to help you reach those goals so fast you won't even believe it. And that is just been such a blessing for me to have these new relationships formed all around the country, to be honest. So thank you so much for your emails, your feedback, your questions, your comments. I read them all, I love them all. And now that I have a new laptop, you can look forward to hearing from me much more often.

28:33 Thank you for tuning in.